the skin of dreams by Quraysh Ali Lansana is powerful, damn good verse. I unfortunately didn't make it in time to review the book before it left Netgalley's pages, but enjoyed it later. Recommended for lovers of verse looking for a strong poetic work.

This wasn't personally the type of poetry I enjoy reading. The writing was beautiful, but I didn't connect to the poetry in the way I expected to.

This volume of poetry was quite hard to get into, but some of the poems were really strong and touchy and I reread them a bunch of time for the simple act of getting lost in a poem.

" Thanks to Netgalley, I received an early copy in exchange of an honest review. "
The Skin of Dreams was like a cup of black coffee, not easy to drink but impossible to avoid. It was both bitter and heavy but all of us need a mirror to see the darkness of the world.

Wonderful poetry. I enjoyed the poems and they were beautiful. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the arc.

Quraysh Ali Lansana provides the reader with a selection of poetry that not reflects the author’s life but the changing world in time and geography. The poet takes the reader in life as an African-American in Oklahoma. "in eufuala" capture the small Alabama town life for a poor black man who, by his own words, cannot vote. The poem rings with segregation, good ol' boys, knowing "one's place", and diabetes. Chicago is different with a different kind of violence with a deep ingrained repression that is shown in "statement on the killing of patrick dorismond ." Other times we are reminded of what we all long for, against all odds:

i am not non-violent i am a teacher
i am not non-violent i am a writer
i am not non-violent i vote
we are not non-violent we care


The dating of the early poems is magnificent and anyone from the period would immediately recognize:

a harvest gold & avocado green leisure suit with fm radio, it was their,
well, daddy’s, mansion, his james brown conk cool, his funky country on radials, power windows and doors a working class music.
~ 1972 ford ltd

Lansana provides the reader with a snapshot of America that few chose to look at or look at with any pride. It is, however, more real than the American Dream and lives everywhere. It may look different or be explained away but it exists and evolves with time.  An outstanding collection of American poetry.

I really enjoyed this book and it was the perfect read for National Poetry Month. I didn't necessarily relate to many of the poems and the struggles that the poem explored. But I still liked the writing.

Though you may be better-served picking up the individual volumes of poetry that contribute to this collection in that you'll probably be able to more fully explore ideas and themes with the author, this was still a very enjoyable, readable collection. The new poems were very relevant to the sociopolitical climate of today while the collected poems definitely felt very true to the times in which they were originally published while still having a great deal of relevance today. There is some powerful stuff here-- the discussion of things like race and personal identity are vivid and passionate, and there is amazing imagery captured in some deceptively simple lines. Even though I do not personally relate to many of the struggles discussed-- for example, I'm white and many of the poems are about being black in modern America or about having slave ancestors-- I was able to connect with the poet's feelings because of the power of his writing.